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12th Edition of the Krakow Film Music Festival will be hale on May 14-21, 2019.

The Krakow Film Music Festival (FMF), organised by the Krakow Festival Office and RMF Classic, is a captivating showcase of the highest quality musical interpretations of the moving image and one of the most important festivals in the world of film music. Performed by leading musicians and orchestras in Europe and the world, the festival provides a unique concert experience by setting it to live screenings of the world’s most spectacular films. FMF is an important industry event, the sight of international and Polish premieres, which often take place in the presence of world-class directors and composers.This year's special guest of the Festival will be Alexandre Desplat.

The inauguration concert in the Gothic church of St. Catherine de Alexandria will feature the most beautiful film music in choir arrangements performed by the Pro Musica Mundi ensemble under the direction of Wiesław Delimat. The programme will include Agnus Dei by Wojciech Kilar from the so-called "small mass", composed for the German historical television series King of the Last Days of Tom Toelle. The world premiere of the live in concert version of Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker’s Dracula with Wojciech Kilar's music will take place on May 15. "Dracula live in Concert" is a co-production of two friendly festivals – FMF and FIMUCITÉ.

On May 16, during the concert "Scoring4Polish Directors", the organisers will award two prizes: for the Polish Soundtrack of the Year (for the first time in FMF's history) and Young Talent Award. The concert will feature music by Wojciech Kilar as well as by Antoni Komasa-Łazarkiewicz, Marcin Masecki, Bartosz Chajdecki and the winner of the Young Talent Award. On May 19, during the FMF Gala "The Galmorous Show", composer Craig Armstrong will receive the Wojciech Kilar Award.

The Festival programme also includes the Audiovisual Forum – master classes, panel discussions and meetings with renowned composers.

The Poznań Philharmonic invites you to a concert at the Adam Mickiewicz University Auditorium on May 17, 2019 at 7.00 pm, featuring the world premiere of Ignat Waghalter's work.

The 477th Poznań concert entitled "Premieres from New York" will premiere New World Suite by Ignatz Waghalter reconstructed by Alexander Walker. Waghlater was a Polish-German composer and conductor of Jewish origin who emigrated to the United States before World War II. Similar to other less known Polish-Jewish composer Karol Rathaus, he found refuge in New York.The concert will also include Poznań premiere of Rathaus' Piano Concerto performed by Daniel Wnukowski. The Orchestra of the Poznań Philharmonic will be conducted by Ariel Zuckermann.

The Poznań concert will be recorded by Deutschlandfunk Kultur and retransmitted on May 28 at 8.00 pm.

The event is co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund under the "Music" programme implemented by the Institute of Music and Dance.

The Gdańsk Music Festival, organized by the Polish Baltic Philharmonic, the Baltic Sea Cultural Centre and Radio Gdańsk, will be held on May 18-25, 2019.

The festival is a continuation of a project that started in 2008. The programme of each edition is defined by a leading theme or a figure of the Artist in Residence. The festival also celebrates important anniversaries. The 2019 edition is dominated by both contemporary and historical pianos.

The soloist of the inauguration concert will be an excellent German pianist nominated for the Grammy Award and the winner of the Gramophone Award – Joseph Moog. The Artur Rubinstein Lodz Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Paweł Przytocki will perform among others Overture in E flat major, Op. 115 by Ignacy Jan Paderewski. On May 22, there will be a chamber "Polish Concert" featuring works by Andrzej Panufnik and Ludomir Różycki. Gidon Kremer TRIO will present works by Mieczysław Weinberg on May 23.The soloist of the symphonic concert on May 24 will be a world-famous pianist from Finland – Juho Pohjonen, who will perform with the Baltic Philharmonic Orchestra. The final concert will feature Polish pianist Rafał Blechacz and Korean violinist Bomsori Kim who will perform among others Sonata in D minor for violin and piano, Op. 9 by Karol Szymanowski.

The Festival will exhibit historical Pleyel and Erard pianos. Krzysztof Książek, the winner of the 1st International Chopin Competition on Period Instruments, and Tobias Koch, a juror of this competition, will play on these instruments Polish romantic repertoire.

We know the results of the 5th Krzysztof Penderecki International Composer's Competition The subject of this year's Competition was a piece for string orchestra.

The Competition was organized as part of the 9th NDI Sopot Classic Festival. The jury composed of Krzysztof Meyer (chairman), Daniel Cichy, Jerzy Kornowicz, Paweł Łukaszewski and Monika Cybulska (secretary of the competition), after getting acquainted with all the compositions submitted for the Competition, decided to award:

First prize to Andrzej Ojczenasz for Tech-uniques, 2nd prize to Krystian Neścior for Nello sfondo Della Vita..., 3rd prize to Klaudia Rabiega for Music for 16 string instruments. Honorable mentions were awarded to Aleksandra Chmielewska for SISYPHUS and Roman Czura for Color. Darkness. Light.

The awards gala will take place during the Polish Music Concert on August 2, 2019 at 7.30 pm in the church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary – Star of the Sea in Sopot.

The first prize of the jubilee edition of the competition went to Maria Motolygina from Russia. The winners of the competition were also Slávká Zamečníková, Long Long, Ruslana Koval, Gihoon Kim and Piotr Buszewski. Slávká Zamečníková was invited to participate in the upcoming Festival of Polish Music in Krakow. Tenor from China Long Long was also honored with the Polish Radio Award (invitation to record with the Polish Radio Orchestra) and the Maria Fołtyn Award for the best performance of a piece by Moniuszko.

A great number of awards went to the Polish singer Piotr Buszewski: the Polish Television Prize, an invitation to participate in the 24th Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival, the Audience Prize, the Bogusław Kaczyński Prize for the best Polish singer, and the Jerzy Semkow Sinfonia Iuventus Prize. Together with Monika Buczkowska, he also received the Karol Namysłowski Symphony Orchestra Prize and the Stanisław Moniuszko Koszalin Philharmonic Prize. Monika Buczkowska was also awarded the Marta Eggerth and Jan Kiepura Prize for the most promising Polish voice and she was invited to participate in the Krakow Chamber Opera performance.

Other Polish finalists also received special prizes. Hubert Zapiór received the prestigious "Presto" Magazine Prize (one year’s PR services) and the Artur Malawski Podkarpacka Philharmonic Prize; Jan Żądło – the award for the best performance of Mieczysław Weinberg's song; Alina Adamski – the PWM Edition Prize for the most beautiful performance of a Polish song from the 20th/21st century; Aleksandra Nowakowski – the invitation to participate in the International Opera Gala ending the Moniuszko Inspiration! Festival); Paweł Trojak – the invitation to participate in the Moscow Festival "New Opera World 2019".

Polish composer Zbigniew Rudziński – a great pedagouge, a long-time lecturer at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music and a member of the Polish Composers' Union, died on 9th May 2019.

Zbigniew Rudziński was a student of Piotr Perkowski and Nadia Boulanger. He began his career as director of the music department at the Warsaw Documentary Film Studio, where he worked in 1962-68. Since 1973, he has taught composition at the Warsaw Academy of Music (from 1975 – as an associate professor, from 1989 – as a professor). In 1980-81, he was also a dean of the Faculty of Composition, while in 1981-84, he was a vice-rector of the Warsaw university. He has given lectures at the International Conference on New Musical Notation at State University Ghent in Belgium (1974), International Seminar for Composers in Ohrid, Yugoslavia (1975), International Summer Composition Courses (1977 – Venice, 1978 – Olsztyn, 1979 – Kazimierz), Internationales Jugend Festspieltreffen in Bayreuth, Germany (1983-89), Sibelius Academy of Music in Helsinki (1987), Royal Academy of Music in London (1990), and Keimyung University in Daegu, South Korea (1993, 1996, 2000-2005). Between 1983 and 1989, he was a director of Composer's Workshop in Bayreuth. He was a guest lecturer at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki (1987), the Royal Academy of Music in London (1990) and in Keimyung University in Daegu, South Korea (1993, 1996, 2000-2005). His works were performed in Poland and abroad, including Prague, London, Stockholm, Helsinki, Bonn, Berlin, Vienna, Paris, and Seoul.

In 1962, he joined the Polish Composers' Union. In 1968-80, he was a member of its Board of Directors, in 1981-82 – the treasurer, and in 1985-86 – the general secretary of the union.

In recognition of his achievements in composition, Zbigniew Rudziński has received many awards, among others, the Silver Cross of Merit (1975), the Award of the Ministry of Culture and Art for his achievements in pedagogy (1979, 1985), and the Prime Minister’s Award for his works for children and youth (1986).

Zbigniew Rudziński's funeral will take place on 15th May (Wednesday) at 1.00 p.m. in the Saint Karol Boromeusz Church at the Old Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw.

The 23rd Witold Lutosławski Forum of Contemporary Art will take place on May 13-19, 2019 at the Henryk Wieniawski Philharmonicin Lublin.

Seven concerts are planned as part of the Forum (two solo, four chamber and one symphonic), referring to the death anniversaries of the outstanding Polish composers: the 25th anniversary of Witold Lutosławski, the 15th anniversary of Marek Stachowski and the 170th anniversary of Fryderyk Chopin. This year is also the 105th birth anniversary of Andrzej Panufnik, the 60th birthday of Mariusz Dubaj and Jerzy Kornowicz, composers associated with Lublin, the 70th anniversary of the Lublin Miracle in the Lublin Archcathedral, and the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Lublin Branch of the Polish Composers' Union.

The Forum will be inaugurated by a concert "Contemporary music of Lublin composers", featuring music by Andrzej Nikodemowicz, Krzesimir Dębski, Jerzy Kornowicz as well as premiers of works by Mieczysław Mazurek and Mariusz Dubaj. The programme of the lectures – concerts for children and teenagers "Music and art – two daughters of one God" on May 15 will include works by Mariusz Dubaj inspired by paintings by Joanna Brześcińska-Riccio, as well as compositions by Mariusz Drzewiński and Krzysztof Szymanowicz.

A special event will be the symphony concert on May 17, "Masterpieces of Contemporary Symphonic Music". The Symphony Orchestra of the Lublin Philharmonic under the baton of Jerzy Swoboda will present Sinfonia sacra by Andrzej Panufnik, Choreia by Marek Stachowski (first performance in Lublin), Symphony No. 4 by Witold Lutosławski, and Piano Concerto by Stefan Kisielewski with the solo part performed by a world-famous pianist Marek Drewnowski.

The new competition of this year's Lublin Forum is the First Lublin Composers Composing Competition for Children and Youth directed at students of music schools in Lublin and the Lublin region. A concert of the winners of the Competition will take place on May 19.

A meeting with the editors of the book Ignacy Jan Paderewski. Letters to Father and Helena Górska (1872-1924) will take place on May 13, 2019 at 6.00 p.m. in the concert hall of the Fryderyk Chopin Museum. During the event, Grzegorz Damięcki will read excerpts from the composer's letters and Michał Dziewior will give a piano recital.

"Helenka, burn these letters," wrote Ignacy Jan Paderewski to his future wife. Despite the request, Helena Górska decided to keep them and the correspondence has survived to our times. After over a hundred years, almost 300 letters written by the piano master was brought from the United States to Poland by the efforts of the musicologist from Kraków, Małgorzata Perkowska-Waszek. Edited by her, and later by Justyna Szombara and Małgorzata Sułek, they were published by the National Fryderyk Chopin Institute in a book entitled Ignacy Jan Paderewski. Letters to Father and Helena Górska (1872-1924).

The composer's correspondence is a testimony of his bright intellect and extraordinary personality. On the pages of the letters, the artist reported, among others the course of his composition studies and creative work, which is why they are often the only source of information on previously unknown or unpreserved compositions. The content of the artist's letters also reveals many interesting facts about his contemporaries, including outstanding musicians, composers, performers and educators.

The 4th festival "Musical Evenings at the Basilica", organized by the St. Stephen Roman Catholic Church in Katowice – Bogucice together with MDK "Bogucice - Zawodzie", will take place on May 12-26, 2019.

It is a musical event centered around the Basilica of St. Stephen and Our Lady of Bogucka, which has become a permanent cultural event that contributes to the development of Katowice and the region and promotes accesibility to culture. The first edition took place in May 2016 successfully fit in the broad cultural strategy of Katowice – UNESCO City of Music. The artistic director of the festival is prof. dr hab. Roman Widaszek.

The fourth edition of the festival consists of three different concerts, showing music as an extremely diversified form of art. The inaugural "Family Concert" is a proposition for children, parents and seniors. It will feature music from fairytales and films interspersed with poems by Jan Brzechwa, read by the excellent actress Małgorzata Kożuchowska.The second concert, "Masterpieces of early masters", is an evening with ClavDuo, Messages Quartet and Julian Gembalski who will perform concertos for two harpsichords by J.S. Bach and organ concerto by G.F. Haendel. The third musical evening entitled "La Pasion del Acordeon" will be performed by Marcin Wyrostek & Corazon ensemble. The artists will present their own works as well as outstanding classical music pieces, including Three Pieces in Old Style by Henryk Mikołaj Górecki, Mazurka in A major by Karol Szymanowski and Mazurka in A minor by Wojciech Kilar.